PEGDA hydrogels as a replacement for animal tissues in mucoadhesion testing

Area of Science:

• Biomaterials Science
• Polymer Chemistry
• Drug Delivery

Background:

• Ex-vivo mucoadhesion assays often use animal tissues, raising ethical concerns and introducing variability.
• Developing reliable synthetic alternatives is crucial for advancing mucoadhesion testing.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate two poly(ethylene glycol) diacrylate (PEGDA) hydrogels as tissue mimetics for mucoadhesion studies.
• To compare hydrogel performance against traditional animal tissue models.

Main Methods:

• Fabrication of two PEGDA-based hydrogels: PEGDA-QT (with thiol groups) and UV-cured PEGDA (mechanically similar).
• Mucoadhesion evaluation using a tensile assay and flow-through method.
• Comparison of polymer rankings with porcine small intestine data.

Main Results:

• Both PEGDA hydrogels demonstrated good agreement with porcine small intestine rankings for first-generation mucoadhesive polymers.
• PEGDA-QT exhibited similar displacement curves to porcine small intestine.
• Consistent rankings were observed for PEGDA-QT and porcine small intestine with second-generation mucoadhesive polymers.

Conclusions:

• PEGDA-QT hydrogel serves as a viable alternative to porcine small intestine for mucoadhesion evaluations.
• This synthetic tissue mimetic can be used with tensile and flow-through methods for various mucoadhesive polymers.